LAWS 2235/2236 ‑ Mental Disability Law: Criminal

CREDIT HOURS: (LAWS 2235- 2 credits) (LAWS 2236- 3 credits)

This seminar provides an opportunity for students to explore the range of complex issues at the intersection of mental disability and criminal justice. Persons with mental health problems and intellectual disabilities have tended to be overrepresented in criminal courts and prisons and have been poorly served by institutions that concentrate on conventional concepts of moral blameworthiness and punishment. The course covers a wide range of topics, which vary from year to year, such as an introduction to mental disorder, intellectual disability and the criminal justice system; historical overview; the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; Criminalization: causes and potential responses; not criminally responsible and unfitness determinations and dispositions; mental health courts; youth, mental disability and crime; Intellectual disability and the justice system; mental disorder in sentencing; corrections law; concurrent disorders (mental health and substance abuse co-morbidities) or dual diagnoses (mental health problems and intellectual disabilities); specific challenges, such as anti-social personality disorders and sexual paraphilias; policing; recent criminal law “reforms”.  Course Details listed here also apply to LAWS 2236.

NOTE: Course details listed here also apply for LAWS 2236. Registration processes and waitlists are set up separately for each of the 2-credit and 3-credit options

Prerequisite(s): None.
Co-requisite(s): None.
Assessment Method: Major paper (LAWS 2236 - 3 credit hours) or term assignments (LAWS 2235 - 2 credit hours); a class presentation and class participation are also required for each student.
Restrictions: None.